


Artistic Company Epilogues

by Markov_Debris



Series: Company Series [22]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Episode: s04e12 The Stolen Earth, Future Character Death, M/M, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Spoilers for Series, Torchwood Novel: Almost Perfect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 01:37:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12784131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Markov_Debris/pseuds/Markov_Debris
Summary: The last three member of the Torchwood Team are rebuilding their lives in the wake of Gray’s attack when Jack makes an unusual request of Ianto - This is the conclusion of Artistic Company.





	1. Chapter Thirty - Pornography for a Time Lord

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter mentions events in the Epilogue for Strangers and Ghosts but you do not have to read it to enjoy it. This is the end Artistic Company and I have kept the original chapter numbers/names.

By the time the Daleks stole the earth the wounds left by Gray’s attack had almost healed.  Time, art and each other allowed the Torchwood team and Rhys to remember Tosh and Owen with fond memories more than pain.

Jack and Ianto had painted several pictures since they began ‘ _Captive Beauty_ ’ and the Welshman was beginning to admit that he made a good nude model.  Yet none of the paintings were ever quite good enough for the Immortal so he had to do another.

The sounds of the Dalek’s ‘Exterminate’ sent crippling fear through both Jack and Ianto.  They both knew that they were facing and, until Harriet Jones’ voice called out, they had both given up hope.

Ianto hadn’t needed Jack’s reassurance this time that he would be back.  There was no argument that the Immortal was needed to help save the day and, despite his earlier jealousy, the Welshman knew who he would come home to.

It was typical that the Daleks would show up just as Jack left.  Gwen was magnificent in her defiance and Tosh was brilliant saving them in her absence.

Afterwards Ianto spoke to Jack on the phone.  He was told the whole story before receiving an apology that the Immortal was needed to help in London and wouldn’t be back for a day.

Ianto reassured him that it was fine, experience had let the Welshman deduce that it would be Donna’s fate to forget.  He knew he would be visited by the Doctor.

He had time to return home and start cooking before the TARDIS arrived.  Ianto bathed and fed the Time Lord while he listened and memorised Donna’s story.

Ianto held the Doctor as he wept and sang him to sleep, repaying the kindness the Time Lord had given him while Jack had been away facing the end of the universe and the Master. 

He didn’t remember falling asleep afterwards but he was woken by Jack.  There was urgency in their first lovemaking then the Immortal told him he’d gotten the letter Ianto had almost forgotten writing.

Their second lovemaking was really that, telling the other how much they felt with their bodies as words didn’t always work for them.  It gave Ianto absolute hope that Jack shared his feelings and it felt like the best night of his life.

Then next day Jack spotted the box and thank you note on the bedside table.  Ianto hadn’t seen it before and opened it and took a pendant out from within.

Jack had never seen the design before but knew instantly that it was Gallefraian, having seen enough of the style onboard the TARDIS.  He immediately demanded to know why the Doctor would give him such a gift, why he had the letter from Ianto.

The Welshman told him about coming home after Jack ran off with the Doctor only to find the TARDIS in his living room.  Ianto told him about how the Time Lord had looked after him as he dealt with the void Jack’s departure had caused.  All while trying not to cause a temporal paradox by being in a past he shouldn’t be in.

The Doctor had never told Ianto what the event was that was in the Time Lord’s past and the Welshman’s future.  He hadn’t known it was the year that never was, so he hadn’t told Jack about his visit before just in case it would cause a paradox.

Jack listened feeling ever so grateful to his friend for taking care of the Welshman, he felt ashamed of himself for hurting the man who meant so much to him. 

Yet he looked at the pendant and wondered what Ianto wasn’t saying, wondering if he had been right last night and only his speed that prevented the Time Lord from stealing Ianto away.

The Immortal hung the pendant around the Welshman’s neck to show that he understood.  Then he made love to Ianto so that he would know who he belonged to.

A strange mad jealousy crept into Jack.  He was finally accepting how he felt about Ianto and now he had a Time Lord for competition.

The Doctor and Ianto were the two most amazing men he knew.  A dark nagging thought told him that only a temporal paradox prevented the two of them running off together and making the universe a better place.

Jack was careful to hide his jealousy from Ianto.  Careful not to let it hurt the Welshman by making him indifferent or distant.

Yet it influenced his choice of painting.  He was going to paint something for the Doctor, something to make him jealous of what Jack had and he never would.

He sat Ianto on the arm of one of the chairs in his lounge, his left shoulder leaning against the back and left arm coming down across his stomach.  The Welshman was naked except for the pendant, soft but completely on display.

When the painting was finished Ianto would be resting against the flight chair in the TARDIS and in his hands he would have a cup of tea. 

After the incident that turned Ianto into a woman, Jack worked on a twin painting.  The Archivist had let him take a few photos of his naked female body and the Immortal used them to paint a mirror image of the male Ianto in the TARDIS, leaning to the right.

For the face he used a computer morphing package to feminise Ianto’s face, after all it had been somebody else’s that the Archivist had worn before.  In the female Ianto’s left hand Jack painted the sonic screwdriver.

Jack felt proud of himself when he finished.  Both paintings he felt were erotic enough to make even the Doctor’s Little Time Lord stir.  He could have his choice of male or female Ianto to keep him company during his lonely nights.

The Immortal had no idea how mad his obsessive jealousy was making him. Not until he showed the Welshman the painting to see if he would deny his involvement with the Time Lord.

Jack’s lover turned to him, his eyes were filled with unbelieving hurt.  Only then did the Immortal realise exactly how wrong his twisted, mad, jealous idea was.

Ianto didn’t want all of time and space, he wanted an idiot who called himself Captain Jack Harkness, an idiot who couldn’t stop hurting him.

The Welshman moved away trying to pull the chain from around his neck.  Jack went to Ianto and forced his hand to still so that he could undo the clasp for him.

“It’s just a fantasy that’s never going to happen,” the Immortal said softly.

“Why?” demanded his voice croaking with heartbreak.

“Because you’re the most wonderful being I have ever known and I don’t deserve you.  There’s a part of me that can’t believe you’re real and part of me that’s a little afraid because of that.”

Ianto took a step back and undid the belt holding his bathrobe.  He let the robe slip to the floor and let Jack just stare at his beautiful, naked flesh.

“I’ve survived Daleks and Cybermen and Weevils and John Hart and the Doctor’s attempts to use my coffee machine.  I’ve dealt with aliens and time travellers and tourists looking for the castle.

“The man I am has been shaped by love and tragedy, grief and joy, hardship and pleasure.  I’ve been changed by experience, people I know, by thoughts and feelings, by disappointments and hopes.

 “You’re the only person who’s ever seen me this naked.  What is there about me that isn’t real?”

“No one has ever seen me as naked as you have and you still like what you see,” Jack replied understanding the metaphor and reality.

“We all have blemishes Jack.  Some make us ugly, some can be overlooked and some make us beautiful”

“I’m sorry,” Jack whispered and Ianto crossed the distance between them.

He held the trembling immortal as he repeated his apology over and over again.  Only Ianto could expose his soul and wrap himself around it like he was body armour, or a security blanket.

He didn’t make love to Ianto that night, instead he got the Welshman to pose for one last painting.  It had to be done as quickly as possible, while they were both naked to each other.

When it was complete Jack was ready to put aside his sketch pad, his canvas’ and paints and live in the real world knowing his quest to capture the beauty of Ianto Jones was finally fulfilled.


	2. Epilogue – Pure Love

The Doctor tended to travel aimlessly now he had no friends to impress.  Of course there were a few places he always wanted to see, a few mysteries best explored alone but it wasn’t the same as before.

Always he would meet wonderful people.  People he would like instantly, people he would wish could travel with him but he was resolute, he could have no more Donna Noble’s, no more Astrid Peth’s.

In a very distant future, while half-hearted checking a party, he was suddenly served with an electronic notice.  He had five days to claim his property or it would be destroyed.

His curiosity suddenly peaked, he returned to the TARDIS to find out what he had left in storage.  He knew it could be from a future self but then at least he know where he could keep something safe.

The Doctor’s property though, which filled the warehouse sized room, had not been left by him, it had been left too him by the Face of Boe, by Jack.

The crates inside had auto movers and they were all small enough to be able to fit through the TARDIS door.  Some stayed in the consul room and others began to line to corridors beyond, waiting for instructions on where to go.

He opened one crate and it seemed to be full of odds and ends.  He left it and checked another which was full of sound players.

He picked one up and selected a track at random.

“Jack we both know that if you are still here when the sun explodes you will be the one throwing the end of the world party,” the voice of a Welshman lilted.

The Doctor was struck not just by the irony, but by the deep affection the voice held.

“Don’t joke about it.  It might happen Ianto.” Jack’s voice was sad.

“Just because all the doors of death seem to be closed to you, doesn’t mean you should sit in the corner of life and cry.  All life is precious Jack even one as seemingly unending as yours.”

The Doctor knew there was more but he was not yet ready to hear it.  So he moved to one of the larger crates.  This one held paintings.

He was surprised to find himself in one of them together with Rose and Martha, as well as Ianto, Gwen, Toshiko and Owen from Torchwood.  There was another picture of Donna with him and one of Sarah Jane and Luke Smith.

As the Time Lord looked he discovered that most of them were of Ianto Jones in various states of dress and undress, including one of him in the TARDIS holding a cup of tea invitingly.  It took the Doctor a moment to recognise the painting’s female twin as the same person rather than someone else he knew.

One painting struck the Doctor most particularly.  The artist had shown signs of improvement throughout his work but there was one painting which any critic would describe as a masterpiece.

Ianto was lying naked on a bed with deep red sheets.  His head was to the left of the full size canvas, red cushions behind him so that he was turned towards the artist.

His right leg was raised with the right foot hidden behind his left leg allowing everything else to be displayed. 

His right arm was also raised though that rested back on the cushions so that his right hand rested under his head.  His left arm sprawled in front of him almost beckoning to the artist and viewers.

At first glance, the Doctor thought it made the young man look angelic rather than erotic.  He was unaroused but still arousing.

The young man’s pale skin was not smooth and unmarked.  There were scars, some shallow, come deep, some faded, some vivid.

They had been the last thing added as though the artist was reluctant to include them.  Yet the Doctor saw that the young man would have been incomplete without them.

They did not make Ianto look ugly or weak but strong and full of life.  Each had a story that added to his beauty.

The face was deceptive.  It was young and attractive, the smile was made sexy, not by seduction, but shy happiness.  The care the artist had taken with it suggested to the Doctor that it wasn’t seen often enough.

It was the eyes though that grabbed the attention.  The eyes the Doctor felt sure shouldn’t belong to anyone, but they competed the perfection of Ianto’s image.

There were traces of sadness, darkness and pain that ran deeper than any of the scars.  They seemed to bore into him as though they were looking at his soul, just like with the real thing.

There was wisdom in those eyes and a hint of mirth that said that amusement touched them more than Ianto’s lips.

What had the Doctor mesmerised most was the love.  The love in those eyes that Ianto had for the artist but also the love the artist had for his model.

 _Jack_ , the Doctor realised, _this painting was done by Jack.  That’s why it is so intimate._

The love Jack felt for the young man made Ianto look like a fallen angel rather than a salacious piece of pornography.

Then the Time Lord realised that Jack had left him all his mementos of Ianto.  All the things he had to remind him of a mortal lost love.

The Doctor envied his friend.  He was too afraid to let himself love but Jack had.  This one painting alone showed the joys that love had bought into his life, no two people deserved it more.

Suddenly the TARDIS made a decision for him.  She put the auto movers into auto-pilot and steered them into a huge empty room.

The Doctor followed so that ‘ _Pure Love_ ’ couldn’t fall then gave directions so that it had pride of place in the centre of the wall opposite the door.

All the naked pictures of Ianto, photographs, recordings and diaries the Doctor placed in this room, everything that was an intimate memento.

In the room next door he put the pictures of Ianto fully dressed as well as the ones of his friends.  There too he placed Ianto’s published work, Donna’s story, the more respectable recordings and Jack’s mementos.

Even though the Doctor had resolved never to let anyone else travel with him, you never knew what your next incarnation would decide.  It felt appropriate that Ianto have both a public shrine and private one that told of his and Jack’s love.

He wandered around both galleries making sure everything was placed perfectly.  As he looked at each painting he wondered if Jack realised that in each one there was love in Ianto’s eyes.

Yet as he viewed them he realised there was a painting missing.  He’d forgotten all about it but that was one of the things with the brain scramble caused by regenerating, it made sure you forgot things that might cause a paradox later, like meeting previous selves.

In this case it was remembering a painting he had stolen a few regenerations ago.  He’d been travelling by himself then too and in typical style arrived at the gallery that housed it on the day it was due to burn down.

The Doctor headed off in search of the room belonging to his seventh self.  The TARDIS gave each incarnation a separate room, decorated in the way that suited who he was at the time.  Only a few things, equipment and personal mementos always travelled from room to room.

The fact that he found the room belonging to his previous self told him that the TARDIS had been saving the painting for this moment. 

He opened the door and there it was, ‘ _The Guardian Angel_ ’.

The Doctor knew it was fated to be the only painting destroyed in the fire that claimed the gallery, but he couldn’t allowed it to happen.  Then as now he felt what the thousands who looked upon it before him had seen, hope after grief.

The Time Lord took the painting down and carried it the gallery with all the public paintings of Ianto Jones.  He placed it opposite ‘ _Friends in the_ Park’, ‘ _The Doctor and Donna_ ’ and ‘ _Sarah Jane and Luke_ ’ so that opposite his absent human family, there was the reminder that they like hope, stayed with him always.

 

 


	3. The Universe Awaits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the idea for this chapter/painting but it didn't actually fit into Artistic Company story-wise. So I posted originally it as one-shot sequel but decided to add it to the Epilogues when posting here.

After completing his perfect painting of Ianto Jones, Jack had no intentions of ever painting again.  Torchwood Three had developed a new normal and art was no longer a part of it.

Ianto and Gwen’s relationship was rock solid.  They interacted and teased each other like siblings, loss and action finally drawing them together. 

They occasionally ganged up together on Jack and the Immortal didn’t always mind, especially when they were having fun and it brought them all smiles.

The Welshman was returning to the way he had been before they lost Tosh and Owen.  He was still wise, quiet and calm on the surface but hiding wit and passion in spades beneath.

Despite becoming more and more sure about his feelings for Ianto, it was easy for Jack to become complacent about them.  He knew how he felt, he knew how Ianto felt, it was part of his life and he didn’t need to think about it.

Jack became the fun flirtatious man he had always been.  It helped that Ianto knew that, despite the flirtation, he was all about his sexy Welsh Torchwood Archivist, or he thought Ianto knew.

The Welshman though was a master of hiding things he felt unsure about.  Despite their conversation and Jack’s apology over the paintings of Ianto in the TARDIS, the incident had destroyed his lover’s confidence and certainties.

Of course it wasn’t until Jack was in a state of waking death that he said anything.  Only when Ianto was facing the possibility of losing him that he got up the courage to say anything.

_A blip in time!  Does he think I will just destroy all those paintings and photographs when he’s gone to make it easier to forget?_

_Does he think all this art is just a whim?  A way to recover after the devastation my brother caused?  Was a perfect image of him not enough to see how important he is in my life?_

Yet Jack knew the answer.  His mad jealousy and gouged into Ianto the way Gray’s vengeance had. 

He still loved Jack, Ianto had a loyal unwavering heart, and he knew just what sort of idiot he had chosen.

Jack had done enough with words and actions to make love shine in Ianto’s eyes for the perfect portrait, for their intimate moments together, but that was all. 

Away from that the Welshman had been putting on a brave face that hid the fear that he really was just a short moment of the Immortal’s life.

So Jack decided to get out his easel, canvas and paints one last time.  It surprised Ianto as he entered the playroom but he stripped off and posed for the Immortal without comment.

He was sat on the bed cross legged reading a book.  Jack had done a couple of pictures of Ianto reading so the Welshman just assumed he’d thought of another one to add to the collection.

When the painting was finished he wasn’t holding a book, he was holding the universe.

Jack had drawn on memories and representations to draw galaxies and stars.  They filled the space between Ianto’s legs and upper arms, cradled in the Welshman’s hands.

Behind Ianto was a void of nothingness so that there could be no doubt that he was holding everything.

When he showed it to Ianto the Welshman stood there stunned.  There were no words but the image brought tears to his eyes.

“The Universe Awaits,” Jack said quietly.

Ianto turned and kissed him.  The Welshman was tender and passionate as he made love to Jack that night, and the Immortal had no doubts about who held his universe.

 

‘ _The Universe Awaits_ ’ was the only nude picture of Ianto that he allowed on public display.  That didn’t surprise Jack, partly because of what the painting meant to them, but mostly because none of the Welshman’s private parts actually were visible.

When Martha Jones saw it she asked if she could borrow it.  A friend of hers in the British Space Agency was looking for a symbol, as mascot and she thought the painting was perfect.

Ianto agreed to lend it to her because he thought the idea was ridiculous.  What he didn’t expect was for ‘ _The Universe Awaits_ ’ to become not the symbol of the British Space Agency, but the International Space Agency.

When the first colony ships left Earth’s solar System they had copies of ‘ _The Universe Awaits_ ’ onboard.  At first it represented man’s dominance over the stars, then man’s guardianship over them.

Over time some stopped hanging copies of the painting in their ships, some made changes so that there was a woman or an alien holding the universe instead.

There were some planets that lost contact with the other human colonies and reverted to the dark ages where the painting began to symbolise god.  Other colonies were wiped out by alien races because they thought the same thing, only it was of a blasphemous god that had to be destroyed.

Two thousand years after the first colony ships left, a group of journalists tracked Jack down as the owner of the original painting.  He had a different identity then and they asked him what he thought the artist meant and how he would have felt knowing that copies of it existed throughout the human empire.

“You do know he’s the artist’s lover?  The artist was telling his model, Ianto Jones that he held his heart, held the universe, that he made everything possible.

“But it’s more than that.  The name, ‘ _The Universe Awaits_ ’, it’s something Ianto said about recovery from grief.  When you’ve howled and wept and raged, when you are ready to come out of your shell, the universe, everything, awaits you.

“Ianto was guarding the Artist’s universe, looking after it until he was ready to walk it alone.  The painting is a symbol of love and hope, I think those are two things everyone would want spread across the stars.”

 

Fin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed this story, alas the last one (to date) in the Company Series. The Awaiting Universe will Continue with Stockholm Syndrome which I will begin posting soon.
> 
> For those who have been reading my Awaiting Universe, 'The Universe Awaits' is the painting of Ianto mentioned in Getting There in Time chapter Ninety-two. This story was written first and I had forgotten that I referenced it in Getting There in Time until I edited it. I decided not to explain about the painting because I knew I would be posting Artistic Company soon.


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